The present invention relates to a printing system including a host terminal, a printer for exchanging data with the host terminal and a portable terminal for providing radio communication with the host terminal. The present invention also relates to a printer including a printer controller having a radio communication unit for communicating with a radio communication device such as a portable terminal, and a printer engine for printing based on an instruction received from the printer controller. The present invention further pertains to a method for notifying of printing information by a printer.
Recently, attempts have been made to construct a printing system wherein, using a standard technology for a short-distance radio communication such as Bluetooth, a portable short-distance radio terminal is used to monitor an apparatus such as a printer.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a conventional printing system.
In FIG. 5, the printing system comprises a host terminal 1510 and a printer 1520. The printer 1520 includes: a printer status monitoring unit 1521 for monitoring the status of the printer 1520; a printer status notification unit 1522 for transmitting to the host terminal 1510 the status of the printer 1520, which is obtained by the printer status monitoring unit 1521; and a printing unit 1523 for printing data on paper. The host terminal 1510 includes a printer status acquisition unit 1511 for obtaining the status of the printer 1520 that is to be transmitted by the printer status notification unit 1522 to the host terminal 1510; a printer status display unit 1512 for displaying the status of the printer 1520 on a display device; and a printing job processor 1513 for using document data to prepare printing data the printer 1520 can interpret and for transmitting the printing data to the printer 1520.
As is described above, the printer 1520 in FIG. 5 notifies the host terminal 1510 when the printing process has ended.
However, when an operator employs the host terminal 1510 to initiate the printing of document data and then moves away, leaving the host terminal 1510 untended, a conventional printing system can not provide confirmation that the printing process has ended, for confirming the actual printing output status can only be accomplished by using either the display device of the host terminal 1510 or the printer 1520. And especially when a large amount of document data is to be output to the printer 1520, the printing performance must actually be confirmed many times, using either the display device of the host terminal 1510 or the printer 1520. Thus, since the operator can leave neither the host terminal 1510 nor the printer 1520 untended, and his or her action is limited by time, it is difficult for that individual to perform another process in parallel.
A conventional printer will now be described while referring to FIGS. 14 and 15. FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a conventional printer, and FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the printer in FIG. 14.
In FIG. 14, a printer 900 comprises: a printer controller 910 for communicating with a host terminal 901; a wired communication unit 911 for exchanging command data with the host terminal 901; a command data processor 912 for interpreting command data received from the host terminal 901; a printer engine 920 for printing data based on an instruction received from the printer controller 910; an engine controller 921 for warming up the printer 900; a printing unit 922 for printing data that is interpreted by the command data processor 912; and an engine controller communication unit 930 for permitting the printer controller 910 and the printer engine 920 to exchange data.
Since in FIG. 15 a number of components, a printer 900, a host terminal 901, a printer controller 910, a printer engine 920, an engine controller 921, a printing unit 922 and an engine controller communication unit 930, are the same as those in FIG. 14, no further explanation for them will be given. However, the printer controller 910 also includes a wire communication interface 1011, which serves as a communication interface with the host terminal 901; a reception buffer memory 1012 for temporarily storing received data; a work memory RAM 1013; a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 1014; a ROM 1015, in which a control program is written; and a printing buffer memory 1016 for temporarily storing printing data.
The operation performed by the thus arranged printer 900 will now be described while referring to FIG. 15.
In FIG. 15, print command and data received from the host terminal 901 are fetched to the reception buffer memory 1012 through the wire communication interface 1011, which is a component of the printer controller 910. In accordance with an instruction from the ROM 1015, wherein the control program is written, the CPU 1014 employs the RAM 1013 as a work memory to convert, into printing data, the printing command and data fetched to the reception buffer memory 1012, and stores the printing data in the printing buffer memory 1016. Then, in accordance with an instruction from the ROM 1015, wherein the control program is written, the CPU 1014 employs the RAM 1013 as a work memory to process the printing data stored in the printing buffer memory 1016. The printing unit 922, which is a component of the printer engine 920, prints the processed printing data on a sheet of paper. In this instance, the warm-up operation for the printer 900 is not started, using the engine controller 920, until the printing command and data received from the host terminal 901 are to be printed on paper by the printing unit 922.
The warm-up operation for the conventional printer 900 is actually started when a printing instruction is output by the host terminal 901. However, since the start of the printing must be delayed until after the warm-up operation has been completed, only a limited reduction in the printing time can be realized.
A printer that uses a radio communication standard, such as Bluetooth, and includes a function for printing a document, such as an email, directly from the portable terminal is designed as an extension of the conventional printer 900. For this printer, a portable terminal and a radio communication unit are respectively employed instead of the host terminal and the wire communication unit, and the warm-up operation is not started until a printing instruction has been issued by the portable terminal. According to this method, however, since again the start of the printing must be delayed until after the warm-up operation is completed, once more only a limited reduction in the printing time can be realized.
It is therefore requested that the warm-up operation for this printer be started before a printing instruction is issued, so that the printing time, after the printing instruction has actually been issued by the portable terminal, can be reduced and is less than that in the conventional case.